SS4 - short disk read

[Riccardo Mottola <riccardo.mottola%libero.it@localhost>]

Hi All!

since my SS20 is currently "bricked" with the 9.2 kernel I thought...
why not upgrade the ol' SS4 too? That should be a safe bet.

First, I struggled hard with the console. I have the Y-serial cable +
null-modem on port A which I used for SS20 maintenance. I attached it to
the SS4 and nothing, no output! I even tried an original WYSE terminal
instead of a PC.
Can something as rare as a fried serial chip? mm...

Anyway, get out monitor and keyboard.... attach and boot. Having no CD
drive in the SS4 I thought of using the miniroot.fs on swap.
At reboot I get a "short disk read".

is that due to the swap partition being too forward on the disk? loader
limitations?

What other options do I have, beyond netboot which I hate and CD-ROM?
Do we have a boot kernel similar to OpenBSD ("bsd.rd" they call it)
which I can drop into root and start with sysinst?
Or maybe i need an external HDD...

Riccardo